238 BuKEAu OF Farmers' I:!«^stitutes. 



many modern inventions whereby the benefits of the best things 

 are phiced within his reach. On the score of health the farm 

 out-classes the factory. The farmer eats pure food, drinks pure 

 milk, slakes his thirst with water of ciystal purity as it bubbles 

 out of the hillside clear and cool, breathes the purest air, and 

 inhales the invigorating fragrance of nature's richest perfume; 

 his nerves are saved the strain of the ceaseless hum of factory 

 noises and the commotion and confusion of commerce; he spends 

 his days in God's sweet sunshine and- his nights in the radiance 

 of his own fireside. His brother toiler in the city knows none 

 of these, except at rare intervals. His food is not always fresh, 

 nor his surroundings conducive to good health or long life. The 

 man on the farm comes near to nature and receives the virtue 

 of the touch. He looks into the blue sky and star-studded 

 heavens; he sees the rose as it buds and blooms, living things as 

 they grow; he hears the songs of birds and breathes the perfume 

 of apple blossoms and the scent of new-mown hay; and in his 

 home he enjoys the comforts of art and music. His children are 

 blessed with vigor; his home comes near the ideal. It was Burns 

 the poet of the farm who gave the world " The Cotter's Saturday 

 Night." For home life there is no place like the farm. For the 

 training of children and the developing of noble manhood there 

 is no place like the farm. By location, occupation and associa- 

 tion it is the place for laying the foundation of a good intel- 

 lectual development; the place for building up a strong consti- 

 tution; the place for establishing the framework of a noble char- 

 acter. Think of the privileges and opportunities of farm life: 

 Those long winter evenings for social and intellectual improve- 

 ment; those hours of solitude and quiet. What times for thought, 

 and reflection, and study! What moments for meditation on 

 things divine and eternal! What aspirations, what inspirations 

 as he communes with mother-earth! What liberty is his! What 

 freedom! No wonder we are a free people. The sense of freedom 

 was born in the soul of the farmer. It was a lot of farmers led 

 by a farmer who repelled the foe at Lexington and Bunker Hill, 

 at Brandywine and Yorktown. 



It is said of Anteaus that no one could throw him in wrestling 

 except Hercules who succeeded only by first lifting him from 

 contact with the ground; his strength came from contact with 



